I was always raised on cowboy films, and then when I could start making choices about the movies I wanted to watch I found myself wanting to watch gangster films which were slightly more sophisticated than the baseline stuff that was in westerns. ↗
Mulberry Street was the beating heart of the Italian-American experience, but you don't find those gangsters now. I live with a bunch of yuppies and models. ↗
I had the advantage of reading the book, and when the script was first submitted to me, it was just another gangster story - the east side taking over the west side and all that. ↗
Sabi ko diba kakalimutan ko na siya. Nagawa ko naman eh. Pero why does it hurt? Bakit nung nakita ko si Kenji bumalik lahat ng pain and happiness? Parang sa araw araw mas tumitindi yung 'like' ko sa kanya. And now.. it's over. Everything.. was one sided. ↗
George Raft may or may not have gone both ways, but he was very sensitive to what they said about him, and it was one factor why he decided to play all those gangsters in the movies. ↗
We were in the heart of the ghetto in Chicago during the Depression, and every block - it was probably the biggest black ghetto in America - every block also is the spawning ground practically for every gangster, black and white, in America too. ↗